An American Tail is an animation movie produced by Amblin and directed by Don Bluth in 1986. Production began in December 1984 as a collaboration between Steven Spielberg, Bluth, and Universal, based on a concept by David Kirschner. Spielberg had asked Bluth to "make me something pretty like you did in The Secret of NIMH... make it beautiful". The pictures on this page are a collection of artworks created for this movie.

THE STORY

In December of 1885, in Shostka, Russia, the Mousekewitzes, a Russian-Jewish family of mice who live with a human family named Moskowitz, are having a celebration of Hanukkah where the father gives his hat to his 7-year old son, Fievel, and tells of America where there are no cats. The celebration is interrupted when a battery of Cossacks ride through the village square in an arson attack and their cats likewise attack the village mice. Because of this, the Moskowitz home, along with that of the Mousekewitzes, is destroyed. In Hamburg, Germany, the Mousekewitzes board a tramp steamer headed for the U.S. but during a thunderstorm, Fievel suddenly finds himself separated from his family and washed overboard..

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Since 2013, Character Design References has supported and inspired a new generation of artists. We share only the finest artworks, the best tutorials and the greatest animated shorts with an international community of over 500.000 artists, art enthusiasts and animation fans.